Shared Leave
On January 1, 2001 the Shared Leave Policy became effective on the Norman, Health Sciences Center and Tulsa campuses. The Shared Leave Policy is an important benefit that will reduce the financial hardship often faced by university employees suffering from a serious medical condition. Many of us have had a coworker that was seriously ill, had used all their paid leave and short-term disability and you wanted to be able to reach out and help them in some way. The Shared Leave Policy will allow you to do just that.
Who is eligible to be a recipient in the Shared Leave Program?
The employee must be a twelve (12) month faculty or staff employee in a benefits-eligible appointment that accrues paid leave and who has held continuous employment for at least twelve (12) months.
What is the definition of a serious health condition?
Serious Health Condition is defined as a serious, extreme, catastrophic, or life-threatening medical condition with a period of incapacity requiring the employee to be medically unable to work for a period of seven (7) days or more. The medical condition includes continuing treatment or supervision by a health care provider; or continuing treatment of a chronic or long-term health condition. The employee must be suffering from an extraordinary or severe illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition which has caused, or is likely to cause, the employee to take leave without pay.
How does an employee request shared leave?
The employee must complete a shared leave application, provide medical documentation for the serious illness and send the application with documentation to the Shared Leave Committee for review.
How much shared leave may an employee receive?
The Shared Leave Committee will determine the amount of donated leave an employee may receive and may only authorize an employee to use up to a maximum of four hundred and eighty (480) hours in a twelve (12) month period. An employee can not exceed two hundred sixty (260) days or two thousand eighty (2,080) hours of donated leave during total university employment.
How can an employee donate leave to another employee?
The donating employee must complete a Shared Leave Donation Form and submit the form to the Shared Leave Committee.
How much leave can an employee donate as shared leave?
The donating employee may donate any amount of paid leave provided the donation does not cause the paid leave balance of the employee to fall below 50% of his/her annual accrual. An employee may not donate leave from their short-term disability account. Donations must be made in full-hour increments.
Will the unused leave I donate be returned to me if the recipient does not use all their available shared leave?
No, any unused donated leave will be placed in the Shared Leave Pool for distribution to qualified applicants.
What happens if I donate leave to a specific employee and the employee is not approved by the Shared Leave Committee to receive shared leave?
If you donated leave to an employee and they are not approved to receive shared leave, the hours donated will be maintained in the shared leave pool to be distributed to other qualified employees. One way to avoid this situation is to have the recipient notify you when they are approved to receive shared leave and donate your leave at that time.
Must leave be donated to a specific employee?
No, the donating employee may donate leave to the Shared Leave Pool to be distributed to qualified applicants by the Shared Leave Committee.
